Twister
by Buttahflie
Summary: She was kind of fragile, and she had a lot to grapple with, but basically she kept it all inside...[FULL SUMMARY INSIDE]
1. The Start Of A Friendship?

(((A/N))) This is my first attempt at a fan fic. I expect constructive criticism (especially on keeping Mariah from becoming a total Mary Sue) and I even accept flames if I deserve them. I'd like for you to be totally honest, because if I just get a bunch of good reviews when my story really sucks, how am I going to improve it? Now with that out of the way, on with the story! :)

Summary: _She was kind of fragile, and she had a lot to grapple with, but basically she kept it all inside..._

She was a stubborn young sixteen year old living with her abusive boyfriend and her two year old daughter. He was a rich and cocky teenager living in a penthouse apartment, with no worries at all. When he pushes past her rough attitude and finds the key to her heart, will they be able to survive all the drama that will come with loving each other?

TwIsTeR

Chapter One: The Start Of A Friendship?

Mariah

Mariah stared at the digital alarm clock as the time changed from 5:59 to 6:00. 'Time to wake up,' she thought, rolling her eyes.

She got up and swung open the closet doors. She ran her fingers through her reddish violet curls, contemplating what to wear.

Finally, she pulled out a short sleeved pink shirt with a cartoon like picture on it. The words 'Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them' under the picture in child like writing. As for pants, she decided on a simple pair of tight blue jeans.

After running a brush through her curly mane, she threw on a pair of Adidas and glanced at the clock. 'Time for Kareem to wake up,' she thought.

"What?" Kareem asked groggily, pushing his girlfriend away as she tried to wake him.

Mariah sighed and tried to put on her best 'cheerful' voice, "Wake up! It's time for work."

"Oh, damn." Kareem got up and threw the comforters aside. He ran his fingers through his brown curls and stared at Mariah. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Um, you looked so peaceful sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you..."

Kareem snorted and grabbed his clothes. He pushed past her and slammed the door.

Mariah cringed and took a deep breath. Slowly, she opened the door and found her way to Shayleece's bedroom. Peeking into the darkness, she saw two bright hazel eyes staring at her.

Sighing, Mariah flicked on the light. Kareem had woken Shayleece up way before she was supposed to be up...again. 'He really needs to stop slamming those damn doors,' She thought to herself as she picked up Shayleece.

"Hey, Shay," Mariah said, kissing the top of her two year old daughter's forehead. Shayleece giggled and tried to grab Mariah's necklace.

"Pretty," She cooed. Mariah laughed and gently took Shayleece's hands off of the necklace.

Mariah picked out some clothes for Shayleece, and got her dressed. After she was all finished with that, she pulled her daughter's kinky brown hair into two pigtails.

"All done," Mariah said, holding Shayleece in front of the mirror. "You like?"

Shayleece giggled and nodded her head. "Uh huh."

Mariah opened the door and her and Shay walked into the kitchen. Kareem was sitting at the table, eyes glued to some book.

"Hungry?" Mariah asked quietly, placing Shay in her little booster seat.

Kareem looked up at her and smiled. "You know."

Mariah sighed with relief. He was in a good mood today. 'Lord, thank you,' she thought to herself.

"Aight, I'ma make us some eggs and bacon," Mariah smiled and busied herself making breakfast. "We gotta get Shay to your mother's daycare, drop me off at school, and you gotta get to work. All in a half hour."

"We can do that," Kareem said, not looking up from his book.

"You sure?" Mariah asked as the bacon sizzled in the pan.

Kareem looked up and stared at her, "I said we can do that."

"Aight." Mariah placed some bacon and eggs on a plate and set it in front of Kareem. She then put some eggs in a bowl and gave it to Shayleece.

"Mmmm. This is actually good." Kareem said, swallowing a mouthful of food.

Mariah hardly heard what he said. She was thinking of last night, when she had been looking for some gum in Kareem's coat pocket. A piece of paper had fallen out. She didn't know if she should bring it up...but she had to.

"Um, who's Vanessa?" She asked, not looking up from buttering her own toast at the counter.

Tension filled the room. "Why you ask?"

Kareem looked up at her and she looked away from him. His eyes flashed. "You were going through my shit again?"

"Don't swear in front of my child." Mariah said, looking him dead in the eye.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do." Kareem said getting up. "I'll swear whenever and in front of whoever I want."

Mariah inhaled deeply as she stood there, shaking. "Don't swear in front of my child."

His heavy hand made contact with her cheek, and she just stood there, shocked. He had never done that in front of Shay before. He went to slap her again, but she grabbed his arm.

"Please." Mariah said tearfully. "Not in front of the baby."

He glared at her and slowly sat back down. He went back to eating and started a conversation with her, as if nothing had happened.

Manny

Manny kept her head low as she walked the halls of Degrassi. That was her way of trying to avoid the stares, the snickers, and the hurtful remarks that were thrown at her endlessly day after day. Ever since she had her abortion the year before, in grade nine, she had been labeled "The School Tramp." Even though she had only slept with one guy...one who had said he loved her. His words had sounded so genuine, it would have been foolish not to believe him....right?

She didn't even look where she was going, and felt her forehead collide with another girl who was walking the halls.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going," A tall girl in a cute pink shirt snapped at Manny. Manny bent down and helped the girl pick up the many books that had fallen.

"I'm sorry," Manny said, straightening up. She noticed that girl didn't look familiar. 'She must be new,' Manny thought. "I'm Manny Santos. Are you new this year?"

"_No_...I'm old," The girl rolled her eyes and hugged her books to her chest. "...Mariah Valentin. And yeah I am new. _So?_"

"Nothing. I was just wondering if maybe you'll need help finding your way around? I've been here since grade seven," Manny said, trying to be helpful to Mariah. She was intrigued by her for some strange reason, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Do I look helpless? I'm pretty sure I'll manage," With that, Mariah walked away, leaving Manny standing there in the hallway, feeling a little stupid.

A second later, Mariah appeared next to Manny again. "Um, can you tell me where Media Immersions is?"

Manny smiled and shook her head, "Sure..."

A tiny smile spread across Mariah's face, "Um, thanks."

"No problem. Follow me." Manny said, starting to walk towards the M.I Lab.

"I don't follow anybody. I'll walk beside you, deal?" Mariah threw back, smiling in a saucy manner.

Manny grinned and nodded, "Deal." And so they walked to Media Immersions, where Manny had to leave to go to her first period class.

"See ya around, I guess." She said to Mariah as they came to the doorway.

"Yeah, I guess." Mariah turned away and walked into the now crowded classroom.

Manny smiled and began walking down the hallway. Could she have possibly made an actual friend? In the halls of Degrease? Maybe...and if so, that would be the best thing that could ever happen to her. A friend...

Jimmy

Jimmy, Spinner, Marco, and Craig sat talking quietly amongst themselves as Mr. Simpson took attendance. It was yet another boring year at Degrassi Community School, and the only thing they were excited about was being moved up a grade.

"I can't believe we're grade elevens. This is too sweet! One more year of this school and we're out of here! Can you believe it?" Jimmy whispered, grinning broadly.

"Dude, I can't believe how long, we've like...been here," Spinner said, squinting his eyes as he reminisced about old times.

"Maria Valentin?" Mr. Simpson asked, looking around. All heads turned to a decent looking girl with a not so pleasant expression on her face.

"It's Ma-Rie-Ah Valenteen. Not Maria Valentin." She said, rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth.

"Okay, it was a simple mistake. You don't have to get disrespectful, Ms. Valentin," Mr. Simpson said, annoyance in his tone.

She rolled her eyes again and faced her computer, ignoring Mr.Simpson. He rolled his eyes too, and went back to doing attendance.

"I wouldn't like to get in her way..." Marco said, glancing at the scowling girl sitting a few seats away from them.

Jimmy barely heard what he said. Something about that Mariah girl had him somewhat hooked. Maybe it was the fact that she looked kind of hard to get, or the fact that she would and could speak her mind, he didn't know. But something was pulling him to her magnetically, and he couldn't ignore it.


	2. This Isn't Real

TwIsTeR

Chapter Two: This Isn't Real

Mariah

"Mariah. Wait up!" Manny called, running up beside Mariah.

"Hey, Manny. What up?" Mariah asked, as she kept walking, eyes glued to whatever was in front of her.

"Nothing really. I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to, like, hang out or something?" Manny asked slowly as she walked down the hallway with Mariah. Mariah swung open the doors and they made their way down the steps.

"Sure...I guess. What do you have in mind?" Mariah asked, stopping and taking a look at Manny.

"Um, I don't know. How 'bout going to the-Dot for something to eat? There's a lot of cuties there, you know." Manny said with a grin on her face.

A tiny smile spread across Mariah's face, "Alright. Sounds like a plan."

Jimmy

"Jimmy, dude..." Spinner waved his hand in front of Jimmy's face and Jimmy ignored him. "What's wrong with you?"

Jimmy's eyes traveled toward the doorway of the-Dot, where Manny Santos was standing with a familiar looking girl. Jimmy's eyes lit up as he realized who it was.

Spinner followed his gaze and raised his eyebrows, "Isn't that the girl who tried to tell Mr. Simpson off in M.I this morning?"

Jimmy smirked and nodded, "Mariah...yeah that's her."

Jimmy watched as Mariah and Manny found somewhere to sit, and started to talk. Manny kept glancing over at Jimmy, noticing how his eyes were glued to her new friend. Finally, Manny nudged Mariah and whispered something to her. Jimmy quickly looked away as Mariah glanced up and made eye contact with him. She raised an eyebrow and went back to chatting with Manny.

"I get it. You have a little crush on the girl with the majorly bad attitude. How sweet," Spinner said, laughing.

Jimmy threw him a Look and Spin immediately shut himself up. He turned away from Spinner and began watching the two friends, trying to make up a good excuse to go over there.

Mariah

"Oh my gosh," Manny said, laughing a little.

"What?" Mariah asked, looking at her curiously.

"It's Jimmy Brooks. He's totally checking you out!" Manny said, grinning from ear to ear.

Mariah slowly raised an eyebrow, "Um...so?"

Manny rolled her eyes, "He probably likes you or something. Go over there and talk to him."

"How can he like me? He doesn't even know me!" Mariah said, also rolling her eyes.

Manny shrugged and took a bite out of her veggie burger.

"Well, he is kind of cute..." Mariah said, pushing thoughts of Kareem out of her mind. He wasn't even close to being a boyfriend anyway. It was more like having a live in bully that loved to torture her.

"_So go talk to him._" Manny said, smiling.

"I'll wait until he comes to me..." Mariah said stubbornly. "I don't go to people, _they_ come to me."

Manny shrugged and continued to eat her burger, "Whatever."

Jimmy

"So, are you going to go over there, or what?" Spin asked Jimmy, mouthful of french fries.

Jimmy made a face at Spinner's disgusting habit of talking with his mouth full, and shrugged, "What am I going to say?"

Spin shrugged and swallowed his food. "I don't know..."

After fifteen minutes of pondering over what to ask, Jimmy came up with something.

He slowly got up and walked over to their table. "Um, are you using that ketchup?"

Mariah and Manny burst out laughing and he just stared at them until a smile spread across his own face, "What?"

"I saw you grillin' me a minute ago, Brooks. Don't act like you came over here just for ketchup," Mariah said, gleam in her eye. "Take a seat."

He sat down and they started to talk, just the three of them. Jimmy noticed Manny wasn't as stuck up and slutty as everybody said she was. She was actually really sweet and funny. As for Mariah, she was kind of hard to read. One minute she was all over you, the next minute she's staring at you like you were a frog.

'Maybe it's because she's testing me, or something,' he thought to himself, 'I don't know, but she's playing hard to get. And everybody knows I love a challenge.'

Mariah

"Ohmigosh!" Mariah gasped, staring at her cell phone.

"What?" Jimmy and Manny asked, turning to look at me.

"I didn't realize how late it was." Mariah gushed, trying to clean up her mess so she could get out of there.

"Um, Mariah... It's only six." Manny said, staring at Mariah curiously.

"I know, but I-" Mariah decided not to let any lies come out of her mouth, by saying as little as possible. "I need to uh, get home."

"Why?"

"'Cause I do." She said, and she pushed open the door and left Manny and Jimmy sitting there at the table.

"And you've been where? I thought you were gonna pick Shay up after school." Kareem's voice made it's way to Mariah's ears as she flicked the hallway light on.

"I was chillaxin with this girl I met. She's really cool." Mariah said, walking into the kitchen. She set her bag down on the table and took a seat.

"That's not what Jamal told me." Kareem said icily.

Mariah froze. How could she had been so stupid? Jamal, a friend of Kareem's, worked at The Dot. He must of saw her, Jimmy, and Manny and snitched.

"What did Jamal tell you?" Mariah asked coolly, getting up out of her seat to fix dinner.

"He told me that you and some little high school boy were sitting there flirting like _damn._" Kareem said, coming up behind me.

"Can we finish talking about this later, please?" Mariah asked, taking a box of Mac and Cheese out of the cabinet.

"No, we can't." Kareem said, crossing his arms.

"Do you want dinner or not?" Mariah asked, knowing he would back off immediately.

He did just that, "When we put Shayleece to bed, we're talking."

Mariah shrugged and started to make dinner.

"So you think you can just go off and play me now?" Kareem asked, closing the bedroom door behind her.

"Play you? What the hell are you talking about?" Mariah asked, squinting at her boyfriend.

"Jamal told me everything. How you was out and about with that li'l high school niggah," Kareem said, crossing his arms and looking at her.

Mariah rolled her eyes, "Kareem, I was chillaxin with this girl from school and he came over and started talking to us. I figured he was pretty cool, so I let him chill. _That's it._"

Kareem squinted at her suspiciously, "That ain't what Jamal told me."

"Who gives a fuck about Jamal?!? Jamal doesn't know shit!" Mariah exploded, "You care about him more than you do me and Shay! Oh yeah, him and _Vanessa._ How's she doing, 'Reem?"

Kareem just stared at her and blinked, so she continued, "Don't act like you're not out clubbin' with her when you say your playing poker at Tyrone's. And do you remember when you missed half of Shay's second birthday for that cheap bitch?"

"Those are dirty lies! You fuckin' liar!"

_Bash!_ Mariah felt Kareem's fist smack into her left eye. She stumbled and felt at her eye, which was swelling rapidly. She backed away from the fuming Kareem, and fell back on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Kareem gushed, rushing to her side.

She pushed him away with her free hand, "Stay away from me. Leave, now."

Kareem just stared at her.

"Now!"

He shook his head and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Tell Vanessa I said hi..." Mariah whispered to herself, getting off of the bed. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. Angry at herself for letting Kareem abuse her like he did, she felt her own fist slam into the mirror. A million glass shards flew everywhere and blood gushed from Mariah's hand. She just stared at it, and the mess around her and thought to herself, 'This isn't real.'

She was a careless sixteen year old, hair flowing behind her, grin on her face, no children or worries at all. She had a mother and a father who cared about her and loved her. That was real. Not living in a place where she feared for her life whenever something went wrong. Not a place where there was two year old calling her "Mommy". Not in a place where no matter what she did, it was never good enough.

'This isn't real,' She thought, a lone tear falling down her cheek. But oh, how real it was.


End file.
